Javier Bardem and Bird Bingo

I keep meaning to catch up on vacations with some landscape paintings, but I'm still stuck in my faces phase.

Javier Bardem is in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie (which I haven't seen yet).  The trailers for Pirates reminded me that he has a good face.

Remember him as the villain from the James Bond movie Skyfall?

dude, you're creeping me out a little

He also looked scary in No Country for Old Men

oh, now you're really creepy

But in real life, he's a pretty handsome guy.  So I had to paint his face to try and understand it.

8" x 8" x 0.5" acrylic on canvas

His face confused me.  It's an unusual shape.  Plus his eyes and nostrils are not symmetrical.  It could be better, but I'm done.

Instead of painting, I spent a few days drawing birds on the computer.  Then I wrote a little code and developed an adorable Bingo game.  If you like sitting on your porch staring at the birds, maybe you will enjoy it as much as Nate and I do.

adorable Bird Bingo game

I created it as a page on my blog just to make something quick that we could play. It turned out so cute, now I kind of want to turn it into an app somehow.  Add more birds, maybe add some options.  I definitely want to draw more bird icons.
Give it a try!  Each time you load the page, it shuffles the birds in a different order.  So you can sit on the porch with your friend, load the page on your phones, and have a legit bingo game.

Rutger Hauer

Today I painted yet another actor with a great face: Rutger Hauer.  He is the Dutch actor that was the replicant "Roy" in Blade Runner.  

His other movie that I love is LadyHawke

I guess I painted the LadyHawke version of him.

8" x 8" x 0.5" acrylic on canvas

Henry Cavill

Willem's and Mads' faces were fun to paint because there is a sinister element to them.   Or just a touch creepy.  Just enough to make it interesting trying to capture those features.  

To change things up, I decided to paint Henry Cavill, the actor that plays Superman.  Henry looks heroic and classic.  Kind of perfect.  I found a picture of him where he's in strong sunlight.  I like the dark shadows it makes.  

8" x 8" x 0.5" acrylic on canvas

I even captured some little veins on his forehead.  His perfect gorgeous forehead.

Before I finished it, I showed Nate what I was working on: 

He thought I should leave him without eyes and let it be evil Superman.  

Painting faces is fun.  Who should I paint next?  Nate has suggested Kevin Bacon and/or Christopher Walken.  I'm also considering Jack Nicholson.  Not sure.

Mads Mikkelsen

After I finished my Willem Dafoe painting, I wanted to do another distinctive face right away.  Mads Mikkelsen is a Danish actor.  He was the villain in the James Bond movie Casino Royal.

handsome, yet also creepy

Like Dafoe, his face is slightly mesmerizing to me.    So I started painting him... and then let it sit unfinished for over three months.

To my delight, Mikkelsen was in the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One. 

rocking the Nordic rugged vibe

 Awesome movie!  It inspired me to go back and finish the painting.

12" x 12" x 0.5" acrylic on canvas

His eyes, brow, and snarly lips seem like his signature characteristics.  I think I spent 3 hours on his upper lip...



Now he is hanging in my kitchen under the spice rack.  Willem is hanging in our half bath.  They are strange little paintings and the make me really happy.  I'm filling our house with my weird art just like the mom from Beetlejuice.